arrests

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of arrest.

   The two arrests were made within minutes of each other.

   Reporters questioned the chief about the recent wave of arrests downtown.

   Note

   The plural counts separate instances, most often of people taken into custody: two arrests, a wave of arrests. It also reaches the rarer meanings, such as mechanical devices that halt motion and ships detained by a court to secure a claim against their operators. The identical spelling is the present-tense verb, so in a headline like "Police arrests rise," only the grammar shows which is meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of arrest.

   The cold weather arrests the spread of the disease in winter months.

   Whenever a deputy arrests someone, the booking is logged immediately.

   Note

   The -s form goes with he, she, it or a singular noun, and it carries all the verb's living meanings. A deputy arrests a suspect, cold arrests the spread of a disease, and a painting arrests the eye. In medical use it needs no object: a patient arrests when the heart stops. The older meanings of halting a person's movement, or of staying put, are obsolete, so keep them out of modern prose.

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